Youth representation in the European Parliament: The limited effect of political party characteristics

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Aksel Sundström
Daniel Stockemer

Abstract

Which party characteristics contribute to the representation of young legislators? We examine this question quantitatively, focusing on the European Parliament (EP), and gauge the influence of the age of the party leader, the age of the party, the size of its support, party ideology and party nomination procedures on the age of politicians, based on data of all members who have served in the EP. We find that none of these characteristics matter substantively in explaining young representatives’ presence and discuss ways to further the field of research on youth representation.

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Author Biographies

Aksel Sundström, University of Gothenburg

Aksel Sundström is an associate professor (docent) at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research interests include a comparative focus on corruption and the presence of women and youth in political assemblies. His work has appeared in a range of outlets, including European Journal of Political Research, Global Environmental Change, Governance and World Development.

Daniel Stockemer, University of Ottawa

 

Daniel Stockemer is an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Ottawa. Daniel’s research interests are political participation, political representation and democracy and democratisation.
In these and related fields, Daniel has published more than 90 articles and several books.